The countdown and BIG GRIDDLES

Well, ladies and gentlemen. This time next week, you should be reading lots and lots of inspired posts with new recipes galore. Why, you ask? Well, because starting next week....it's....

SUMMER VACATION!

Yes, yes. Teachers are teachers for two reasons. If he/she is worth anything in the classroom - the primary reason is for the children. I mean, all the vacation in the WORLD can't make up for the school year when you loathe caring for and teaching other people's kiddos. However, even from the most saint-like of teachers, right behind "love for children" comes "love for breaks." I'm an "all at once" kind of gal, and LOVE the working really hard to enjoy peace later. Hence why I love the classroom, and why I just buckled down and made FOUR full batches of pancakes yesterday. Yes, four. No, I'm not crazy. I'm griddled. But, I digress.

I am a little nervous about the break this year. You see, I have two energy drainers that live in my home with me. They've each discovered strong opinions that often diametrically oppose the other's. This results in screaming, scratches, biting, and black eyes.

Well, maybe not so much the black eye part.

Anyhow, while I am jumping up and down at the thought of two glorious months of freedom, I am nervous to be on lock down with terrible twos and even worse threes. Now, give me a day when my beautiful daughter and loving son act wonderfully towards each other - I'm SO there. Unfortunately, I get about four of those a year.

Ready or not, here comes the summer...

To ring it in I went ahead and made those batches of pancakes. I was running out of breakfast food and needed some for the freezer. Blueberries went on sale this week, so I bought some of those, and some sweet potatoes, and got cooking! It went MUCH faster than expected as I recently got a griddle that will make 9 pancakes at once. NINE! Can you believe it?

For those that have never used a griddle, I HIGHLY recommend it. Breakfast making is SO much easier with these around. I originally discovered it when I married my bacon-loving husband. I noticed on the griddle bacon and eggs cooked up so much nicer. Then I discovered perfect pancakes were within my grasp. These days, we're not so much on the bacon, but pancakes are still crackin'.